Same Ol' Snow Story

Today was the fourth day it has snowed in 12 days. And we're talking significant snows, here. As I write this, the blizzard is still raging outside, adding to today's 15 inches of snow.

After the plows came through our complex, Troy and Evelyn went out to clear our sidewalk and scoop the snow around our cars. Evelyn really seems to enjoy helping Troy and the neighbors with the snow removal. She usually helps clear snow first, and then she plays in the piles of snow.
I know I've posted this shot before, but here we are again, cars buried in snow. We're running out of places to put all this snow - 45 inches in the past five days! - so let's hope Old Man Winter is done pounding us with his weather.

Julia in the Snow

Julia went on her first adventure in the snow this morning. Sure, she has seen her fair share of snow this winter like the rest of us, but it's usually while looking out a window or while someone is carrying her.

Julia was very cautious walking on the sidewalks, surrounded by snow. Evelyn tried to lure her into the snow cave, but Julia wanted nothing to do with that. After getting over the initial shock of being completely encompassed by snow, Julia was content to wander around on the sidewalk, hardly paying any attention to the snow.

Snow Play

What do you do when (1) Julia is taking her afternoon nap, and (2) there is a TON of snow on the ground? Go outside and play, of course!

When clearing our townhome complex, the Bobcat plows made mountain after mountain of snow. Each pile of snow is about six or seven feet high. Evelyn loves climbing to the top of this pile (close to our house) and sliding down the side.
The snow is piled about four feet high in our front yard. So, after playing around on the mountain for awhile, Evelyn and I constructed a tunnel and cave. Starting at the side of the mega-pile by the sidewalk, I dug and dug until the space was big enough for Evelyn to fit inside. You can tell that she is just tickled to have such a cozy hiding place.

Blizzard of 2010

The Blizzard of 2010 can be summed up with three numbers: 26, 29 and 52. 26 inches of snow, 29 hours without electricity and 52 degrees inside the house when we woke up Sunday morning.

The pictures of Evelyn in our front yard and in the parking lot give you an idea of the incredible amount of snow we got. At one point, while Evelyn was walking behind the cars, she fell down, and the snow came all the way up to her shoulders!
By the time all was said and done, we were blanketed with 26 inches of snow, although the official snowfall measurement for Germantown was 30 inches. Evelyn took the picture below, being sure to get our snowman - now a snowy mound - in the shot.Since the trees were laden with the heavy snow and the snow was piled high on the deck railings, I could hardly see my bird feeders. Shortly after supper, I had to dig a tunnel through the snow to the deck box so we could have a place to store our frozen foods. While I was out there, I also shoveled a path to the bird feeders. They will need to be refilled long before the snow is gone, I'm sure.

Our power went out at 4:15 Saturday morning. We had a hopeful 45 minutes of electricity late Saturday morning, but then it went out again. We finally got the power back on (for good) this morning around 9:15. We were fairly comfortable last night while we were sleeping since we were tucked under the covers. But, when we came downstairs at 7:15 this morning, and the indoor thermometer read 52 degrees, we knew we couldn't stay another night at home. Our little gas fireplace in the basement wasn't able to keep the whole house comfortable, so Troy and I were cooking up plans to stay warm. Thankfully we didn't need to resort to leaving our house since the power stayed on for good. And - a big bonus - we were still able to host two families for Super Bowl Sunday tonight. Whew!

Snowball Fight

We are in the midst of yet another snowstorm - the fifth snow since December. After Troy got home from work late this afternoon, Evelyn and I couldn't resist going out in the snow. First we made the mandatory run (okay, we walked) to the grocery store for milk, bread and bananas. That trip was less eventful than I had anticipated, and we emerged victorious.

Once we got home, Evelyn and I had some fabulous snowball fun. The wet snow was sticky, and we were able to make some monstrous snowballs. I think we played outside for almost half an hour, pegging each other with snow. We came inside, dripping wet messes, but we had a blast.

Finally . . . Snowman-Approved Snow

Last night we got five inches of heavy, wet snow, which is the perfect snow for building a snowman. All of our previous snows have been too fluffy to pack, so Evelyn was very excited that we could finally build a decent-sized snowman. We used up ALL of the snow on the deck making this guy, and he was almost as tall as Evelyn!
Evelyn thought we should make pockets on the snowman and fill them with birdseed. She also added little sticks to serve as perches for the birds. The birds better hurry up and eat the pockets seed before our next snowstorm comes this weekend - it might be covered up for awhile.

Sledding

One of Evelyn's Christmas presents this year was a (purple!) sled from Uncle Matt and Aunt Taylor. This afternoon, Evelyn took her new sled out for its maiden voyage with Matt and Troy.
We went across the street from Troy's parents' house to the third tee box of the Fontenelle Hills golf course. A gentle slope in an open area there lends itself to rookie sledders. On Evelyn's first run, she went much farther than she wanted to - she doesn't weigh much, so the sled just kept skidding on top of the 12 inches of fresh, powdery snow.

Part of today's sledding deal was that Evelyn wouldn't have to walk back up the hill after each downhill trip. Not a bad deal, as long as she didn't get dumped out of the sled.

After the first trip scared her, Evelyn insisted that Matt or Troy ride with her. It didn't take much convincing to get either one of them on the sled.

As the photographer, I gave up on the cold weather (23 degrees with a windchill of 14 degrees) long before the sledders did. Here's a shot I took from the house as the trio finally gave in to the cold and headed back home.

The Day After the Big Snow

Just as we thought, when the snow was done falling, we ended up with a total of 21 inches. This morning I snapped some pictures from the second floor windows. Here's what the furniture on our deck looked like:
The snow blanketed our two cars. Troy's car was completely buried - you couldn't see any parts of the car.

Here's the neighborhood clean-up crew digging out cars. Troy is at the top left of the picture, shoveling a path between our cars. Evelyn is in the purple coat (of course) in the lower right-hand corner, brushing the snow off of one of our neighbor's cars.

Evelyn loved her broom work, including sweeping snow from the sidewalk. Naturally, a cup of hot chocolate awaited our hard-working Peanut.

East Coast Snow Storm

We've only had three small snowfalls (less than five inches) in the two years that we have lived in Maryland. This weekend's forecast said that we would have a record-setting snow storm this weekend. When we woke up this morning, seven inches of snow was already on the ground, and it was supposed to snow all day.

By about 2:00 in the afternoon, the snow was 16 inches deep. The forecasters' estimate of 20-24 total inches of snow seemed to be fairly accurate.

After putting Julia down for her afternoon nap, Evelyn, Troy and I headed outside. After discovering just how deep the snow really was - halfway up to her thigh - Evelyn cautiously made snow angels. When she sat down, she was careful not to fall all the way through the powdery snow.

A couple of our neighbors were sledding on a little hill in our complex, and they offered to let us borrow their sled. Evelyn insisted that I accompany her on the first ride, but after that, she preferred to go alone. Evelyn loved the circle sled because she spun around as she went down the hill. She had a great time! Eventually the cold got to her (today's high was 26 degrees), and we went inside for hot chocolate with marshmallows.

As dusk fell, I took one last picture of our deck. I measured 21 inches of snow at 6:00 p.m., and there was still some light snow falling. We'll see what the grand total is tomorrow morning, after all the snow has stopped.